Saturday, March 5, 2016

A big part of the problem with boats...

Is that people just don't make enough of their own shit.

Boaters these days are consumers and it has not escaped my attention that a lot of folks look down at folk who actually do their own repairs, build things, and, you know, invent stuff that actually works on boats.

Surf folk get it. Building your own board is universally respected and if you happen to try something new your street cred goes up a few notches even if it does not work because everybody gets that the path of evolution is fraught with dead ends, mistakes, and if you're not getting it wrong you're simply not trying hard enough.

Bike folks get it as well. In fact, there's a bike-centric group of folks who adopted the weighty moniker of SOPWAMTOS which stands for...

Society of People Who Actually Make Their Own Shit

Just about every bicycle mechanic or frame builder I've ever come across has an innovative nature that I find mostly missing in and around the marine trades which seems to be more about the payday rather than actually building something they might be proud of.

That said, most marine trades men and women I know make a whole lot more money than surfboard shapers and frame builders.

So, here's a question...

When was the last time you saw a really cool innovative idea for sailboats on KickStarter or something like it? You know the sort of idea that made you sit up and say...